Hartlepool community centre staff create charity calendar

A GROUP of community centre employees and volunteers attempted to liven up the most boring of chores when they created a fund- raising calendar.

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Pat Sprintall ironing in a field of cows

A GROUP of community centre employees and volunteers attempted to liven up the most boring of chores when they created a fund- raising calendar.

The ladies at Hartlepool Council’s Warren Road Day Centre stepped out of their comfort zones to raise funds for extra activities for adults with learning disabilities at the centre.

Pat Sprintall put a little zest into what is said to be the most mundane of household jobs when she tackled her ironing in a field full of cows.

The centre’s ladies opted for the off-beat after deciding that strip-off calendars were old hat.

Pat, a community worker at the centre and a member of the centre’s Friends of the Sunflower Lounge organising committee, said: “We all dressed up glamorously at unusual locations.

“I was ironing in a farm field when the cows started to gather around me.

“I was a bit frightened because they were very close. But the farmer was there and the cows were just being inquisitive.

““There have been a lot of people creating their own calendars in recent years, including the famous Calendar Girls.

“Their calendar was very original and I liked the film. But we wanted to do one which was very tongue-in-cheek and we had a lot of fun doing the photoshoots in some strange places.

“It will give people a laugh as they turn the pages throughout the year.”

All the photographs were taken by Hartlepool photographer Chris Armstrong.

One of the older volunteers at the centre, Betty Dearlove, kicks off the year in January standing in front of a high-powered car holding a crash helmet and dressed in racing leathers and pink hair curlers.

Other women from the centre are pictured mucking out stables while dressed for a day at the races, taking tea in a boxing ring while wearing boxing gloves, working a sewing machine in the goal mouth at Hartlepool United’s pitch, making cakes in a bowling alley and dressed in glam gear while playing tennis and golf and working in a garage.

:: The calendar costs £6.50 and is available from Warren Road Day Centre on 01429 264661.